Nutrition and exercise!

[chanteuseCarey]

Hey crwritt, good for you here fellowballroomdancin'girlfriend! I SOOO cannot do yoga!!

I regularly take a yoga class, and really like the instuctor, but I can't seem to get motivated to do my practice at home,
so until recently I've just been doing it once a week, sometimes less when there's no class or I don't make it there.
I had saved some yoga videos to my Netflix queue awhile ago and this week started following them. I don't need anything too elaborate, or advanced, and the first one I tried, "10 minute yoga" is actually a good routine. If I follow all five segments I get almost a 1 hour workout. Its enough to keep me on task.I've done it three days in a row now
and the ab workout must be doing some good, since I can really "feel" it!

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Thanks crwritt! I wore my Ballroom shoes to dance in on Friday night and did pretty good! Tho' I was a wee bit nervous. A gent banged into my bad foot just once during the lesson, so not so bad.

I dance ballroom too, and love it!Wow two or three weeks just doesn't seem like long enough to heal a broken toe, be careful! I've seen people at swing dances put some duct tape on the sole of their shoes, for slide. You can also get self adhesive felt at Joann fabrics or a craft store. There's nothing like a grippy shoe sole to ruin your knee.

 

[susan]

Dancing is a good addition to my usual workout, it´s exhausting but it´s fun too. At least it´s exhausting for a newbie to swing dance like me

 

[Romy Overdorp]

I ride my bike everywhere I go, but if it's more than 20 kilometers away I take the car.
Love to swing dance with my boyfriend and even at work I get plenty of exercise running around!
I just eat what I like but I make sure I get my vitamins and minerals.
Plus I mostly only drink water, but when I'm in the mood for something sweet it'll be a diet soda.

 

[sheeplady]

I am trying to lose 4 pounds (weight I've gained over the past three months due to some stress and bad eating habits- donuts and chips being my main enemy) by April 26th. I started working actively towards this goal on March 18th. It has also been tough the past several months because our kitchen is being remodeled, so I only have a hot plate and a microwave, which means no oven.

I'm cycling and weight lifting twice a week and trying to walk at least 5,000-10,000 steps every day. I'm also watching what I am eating and drinking.

 

[NancyLouise]

Sheeplady, sounds like you should have no problem losing the weight in that period with all that you're doing. If you do find by your halfway point that you are still struggling, I would suggest some sort of online calorie calculator. If anything, I find it really helps to truly see how you're eating. Before I did it, on days I thought I was eating more healthy, I ended up with a shock about how many calories it ended up being!

With schooling, I have been much more inactive. I'm trying to log my calories for at least a month, I am a little over a week in. Also for the past month I have been doing cardio and strength training at least every other day. At my proudest, I ran seven out of nine consecutive days
I'm hoping to beat off the last few pounds some way or another!

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Weighed in for accountability's sake on March 21st. Lost another 6.2 lbs. No idea how. Really.

Trying to get back into the full swing of my previous workouts since its been 7 weeks since fracturing my toe. Started last week a twice a week Zumba class all done to Christian music at my church- its amazing and an excellent workout!

 

[AmateisGal]

I've noticed that when I'm stressed (as I am now - we're moving from an apartment to a house and literally painted every room in the house and various other things to get it ready - even though it's a rental!) I tend to eat more - especially sugary stuff - and not lose weight. I've even been exercising pretty faithfully at Curves (which I LOVE) and moving stuff, but the weight isn't budging. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things after the move!

So my enemy is emotional eating - and I wish I knew how to combat it!

 

[AmateisGal]

I should preface this by saying I've been very bad about working out since I started working full time after law school, but I am planning to turn that all around when I start my new job next week.

That said, never measure yourself when you're on your period! I thought I had gained two inches in my waist but it was ALL from being bloated. So terrifying! lol

I can SO RELATE. My jeans barely fit when I'm on my period, and since my cycles are messed up and I'm on my second period of the month, let's just say the jeans haven't fit for weeks now!

 

[Romamor4]

I am on a diet currently and trying to lose weight. I'm counting calories and do kickboxing as well. I have a more practical question in regards to how you ladies keep up your vintage do' while having a workout routine. I hope this isn't a silly question! What do you do with your hair after a workout?? Do you wash your hair and then re-do your curls that night? Or do you just pin your curls without washing your hair? If you workout, let's say, three days a week and wash your hair after every workout, isn't that a lot of re-setting? Am I missing something here?

 

[chanteuseCarey]

weigh in three weeks later- lost another 2.1 lbs. Down 25.2 pounds total since mid October 2010. Still eating dark chocolate, pasta, meat, butter, peanut butter and milk, honest! Almost no snacking though these days, and I haven't eaten anything resembling junk food in months. My man said Saturday evening that he and I should keep it up with us both working on getting lighter and (ballroom) dancing more, he said we'll be Fred and Ginger! We went out dancing together for three hours Saturday evening, and then we went for a hike in the hills on Sunday afternoon.

 

[nosferaturoams]

I don't do my hair that often so I can excercise super heavily. However, I don't

I have somehow managed to lose 3-4 pounds these past 9 days. All I did was run once, bellydance once, and watch what I've been eating this whole time. I used to be a vegetarian and what I remember was weighing 148 over a year ago, then went up to 160. I am now 151/152? Anyway, I really wanna lose tummy weight so I look better in vintage clothing. I don't know how you folks feel about betty paige but, I read somewhere she used to weigh 130 lbs. That really gives me hope. 130 isn't exactly a size zero, and I love that. She's kind of my inspiration now to lose weight. Do you guys have any inspirations?

 

[C_Clarke]

As for nutrition, I aim to eat 40% carb, 40% protein and 20% fat (good fat). I work out 5-6 times a week using a mix of P90X strength training and my taekwondo classes. I have to eat a LOT on karate days as I'm not really that big of a woman and taekwondo burns a ton of calories that I've struggled to eat in the first place. I like the sport so I do what I have to in order to make it through class and just have fun with it.

I just gave up trying to gain weight although P90X has helped me gain some muscle, which really made my clothes fit better.

 

[Stray Cat]

My sister's wedding is in less than a month.
so..
This is how I'm getting myself in "shape":

[video=youtube;7w6M4bOXJ_s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w6M4bOXJ_s[/video]

Jumping jack.
Trust me.. it's working.
If you think: "Just jumping?"
NO.
Try it. First time I did this (jumped for about five minutes, and went out of breath), I couldn't lift my arms, I couldn't walk down the stairs..
..and also, I do:

[video=youtube;O31_Av5oY64]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O31_Av5oY64[/video]

As for eating..
I just stopped eating white bread (it's hard not to eat that one, because I used to have a slice for every meal). And, I cut down my sweets.

Haven't lost much weight (just couple of kilograms). BUT, I do feel more tight, more energetic..
If I can last until the wedding, I'm guessing I'll be slim just enough to look great in my dress.

 

[cydneyr]

I run for 3 miles as a warm up, then i do pilates and weights for 30 mintues everyday; other than that I do Ballet, Jazz, Tap, and other variations of dance! I love to dance!

 

[LoserVonTeese]

I'm on Weight watchers, so far i went from 182 down to 165, i'm doing really good. and i love to dance around

 

[katiesparkles]

Great thread, hopefully reading here will keep my motivation up!

I gained around 20 lbs since moving to the US almost 2 years ago and didn't even really notice until I couldn't fit into some of my winter clothes this year. I want to be down 30 lbs by June of this year - 5 lbs a month should be within the healthy & doable range.

As cliche as it is, traded cookies and coke for veggies and water on January 1st.... so far it's going alright. Working fulltime plus a 3 hour commute each day doesn't leave me much power/time for cooking and exercising by I'm trying my best. My job provides free snacks (meaning Doritos, chups, cookies, gummy bears, pop tarts, anything unhealthy you can think of) for free but I've been really good about NOT eating those. I do still grab a bag of pretzels every now and then but nowhere close to as much as I used to gobble down.

I started at 158 lbs 2 weeks ago, last week I was down to 155 lbs! Tomorrow is my weigh-in day so we'll see if the scale is my friend this week... or not. Hahaha!

 

[zombi]

I am a runner. My partner and I are doing p90x as well, and I take yoga classes. As for food... I am gluten-free dairy-free and pescetarian.

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

I am a member of TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly, est. 1948). Currently down 32# from my high of 290#. Currently I walk plus do a few squats and wall push-ups. I have bee at a plateau for a while. I think I will add the jumping jacks thank to this thread.

 

[countrybumpkin]

hi there, (great inspiring thread I love it!)
I am also a coeliac (No gluten) which has greatly helped me control my eating habits especially with bread. Previous to changing my diet roughly 1 year ago i was a binge eater; every day in the evening and the morning I stuffed my face (charming I know) with any food in the house, hidding picked at food from my family just so they didnt find out what I had been doing this was mainly bread or any leftovers in the fridge or cupboard (I dont know why but I think it was an urge for carbohydrate). In the meantime, I was restricting the size of my meals (of which was blatantly obvious to my family who were concerned but as I wasn't losing weight so I wasnt problem in their eyes), depriving my body from nutrtients which caused a binge and then feeling of serious guilt over threw me which then lead to the cycle starting again. I then started to revert to not eating infront of anyone and massively reducing my intake down to 1 orange split between breakfast and lunch, then 2 mouthfuls of food for dinner between gulps of water. (I knew I had a problem at this point seeing ribs in the mirror was as fufilling as any binge my mindset was warpped). During that time I was exericising on and off to try and stabilise my weight and balance my energy levels so I was never really overweight just flitted between under and a 'normal' (for me uk size 10) size, which was how no one could findout my food issues. For me it was a compulsion, boredom and I suffered and still do with reflecting my body image, feel insecure about myself and how others percieve me (you know the classic helpless rubbish that many people churn out in those pathetic tv programes/films but i'm afraid it was reality for me sad though it may seem) that feeling in control of food was the only way I could make a good impression on someone if i looked thin as a result they would like me for a short time anyway until they met my bland personality. This was due to my shyness and supression of feelings, I felt trapped for a long period.

The turning point was definatelty cutting gluten from my diet as glutenfree bread, pasta etc.. is less avalible in my house therefore temptation is reduced but still apparent. Also I did have shock seeing relative in a hospitlaised state of anorexia clinging on to the little food she ate with hope it would hide her problem, suken sullen face; It wasnt how I wanted my life to be or end. I now try to eat three meals a day but am regimented to avoid the loss of control. If i am running or going to the gym I will have a piece of fruit for after. If I am stuggling to aviod the fridge or kitchen cupboards, I listen to music, do some work, set my hair to help keep my mind off food, I also find if I am lagging between meals sugar free gum works well to avoid a spluge. I'm not saying I am 100% free of the chains of body image and obsessing over food (which we all go through in some form or another) still falling into a comatosed binge when emotions are the better of me but its becoming less and less frequent. I'm learning to enjoy and make the most of food.

Usually I exercise 4 times a week in the gym, run or cycle, variation is the key to keep motivated also some snazzy sports kit helps you feel good about how you look- less insecure and music for those dreary days when its murky outside and you really cant be bothered. But remember 'no pain no gain' aye girls! Also on Fridays I always have a treat eg. pudding, cake, 2nd helpings of a lush stoggy meal that way i dont feel i'm missing on the fun. also instead of weighing myself I use a body measurement tape a muscle weighs more than fat so the scales dont count when your exercising measuring at the end of every week.

I find being a 40s glam girl has hugely helped me with my confidence image accepting having the odd curve here and there and am now vastly confident than I once was. Anyway, enough of the waffle I suppose most of you have stoped reading by this point due to my pittiless ramblings and i dont blame you..ops (sorry for the tiresome cliche story)
Its nice to air this out of the cupboard, I havent told this to anyone before phew... anyway byeee...